Book Review of The Happiness Equation

1. The Happiness
Equation:
Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything
Published in 2017
by Neil Pasricha
Book review
Navnath Pawar

2. About the author
• Canadian author, entrepreneur, public speaker
• Known for Book of Awesome series and The Happiness
Equation

3. Problem with self-help
books
• Lack of actionable insights

4. How we perceive happiness?
Great
Work
Big
Success
Be Happy

5. Be Happy
Great
work
Big
Success

6. Equation parts
• Want Nothing
• Do anything
• Have everything

7. Want Nothing
Be happy first
01
Do it for you
02
Remember the
lottery
03

8. Be happy first
1. Three walks of 20 minutes (Physical activity)
2. The 20-minute Replay (Creative writing about a positive experience)
3. Random acts of Kindness towards others
4. A complete unplug (A break from the technology)
5. Hit Flow (Being completely involved in an activity)
6. 2-minute meditations
7. Five Gratitudes (write in a gratitude journal)

9. Do it for you
• External goals don’t help. Only
internal goals do
• Do it for you. Don’t do it for others
(To block all criticism)
• When you are not doing it for
you…you are not doing a good job.
Its not just that getting reward
hurts quality
• Comparison is thief of joy

10. Remember the lottery
“Be content with what you have.
Rejoice in the way things are. When
you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.”
-Lao Tzu

11. Do Anything
Never Retire
01
Overvalue you
02
Create Space
03

12. Never retire
• Ikigai
• Retirement is a new concept
• Retirement is a western concept
• Retirement is a broken concept

13. Overvalue you
• Work on the things you love

14. Create Space
• Removing Choice
• Removing Time
• Removing Access

15. Have everything
Just do it
01
Be You
02
Don't take advice
03

16. Just do it
• Nike slogan
• Action causes motivation
• Action kills fear

17. Be You
• Saturday Morning Test:
What do you do on Saturday Morning when you have nothing to do?
• The Five People Test
• Take a look at five people closest you and remember you are average
of them

18. Don’t take advice
• All advice conflicts
• Happy people know when its important to stop taking advice and
start listening to yourself